Saturday, April 26, 2014

This blog first appeared in DelawareLiberal on April 26, by ProgressivePopulist

Ok, Vladimir. Enough of the belligerence. Crimea was an outrage and
eastern Ukraine doubly so. So was Georgia. Speaking for myself and
possibly millions of my fellow Americans, we don't want a renewal of one
of our worst mutual eras, the Cold War.
Many of us admire and
envy your history and culture. In particular, your nation's
demonstrated willingness to change and try to improve. Take your 20th
century revolution, for example. You set aside many centuries of brutal
oppression by your Tsars, turned them out and tried a grand experiment.Ok,
so communism didn't serve its intended purpose and became oppressive in
its own right. But one of my hero's, Mikhail Gorbachev, had the
courage to admit it wasn't working and instituted in the same century a
second major reform, Glasnost and Perestroika. We're still waiting here
for needed reforms to the failures of our economic system, capitalism.
The world and many American's hailed his guts and balls. And many
members of your Union appreciated the autonomy Mikhail and his team gave
them, though it has been a rough transition for many. You can be
admired like that too. Through fear? Not so much.
Yes, a few
mistakes were made along that path, including bringing over American's
best and brightest consultants from such institutions as Wharton and
Harvard to result in privatization moves that created a Russian
oligarchy of insiders that has become the envy of our own oligarchs.
But
now, your mimicry of our own history of imperialistic overreach stuns
the imagination. For that matter, the mimicry of your own overreach in
the closing days of our grand partnership in WWII in eastern Europe
causes one to wonder about why we both fail to learn the lessons of
history which have so much to teach us both. That imperialism doesn't
work for anybody.
Let's not do this. We shouldn't make your feel
hemmed in and caught in a vise with our NATO alliance. You shouldn't
begin recreating your Union in response to that vise. Let's get
together and loosen the vise and work out mutually autonomous
partnerships in that region and grow the economic pie for everyone's
benefit.
Look, there's alot of admiration over here for your huge
contributions to humanity and culture. Your ballet and classical music
has made the world a better place. As have your brilliant
contributions to science, architecture and art. And your willingness to
end our nuclear campaigns of mutual terror.
We should have
learned from your admission that Afghanistan was unfixable. And many of
us here are grateful for your strategic brokerage in Syria to retire
their chemical stockpile without blasting an already ruined populace off
the face of the earth.
Vladimir, cut Pussy Riot and the gay
community there some slack. There's much creative energy for building
your democracy pent up with these folks, just waiting to be unleashed
for good. Just as I, as an atheist admire your country's willingness to
allow the Orthodox Church to surface from the underground and serve
some of your people who seem to need them, Russia will not be harmed by
political dissidents and those with lifestyles which you might not
understand. You're better than that. Hopefully, we are too.
Finally,
I have an idea. Let's put all this crap aside and form a partnership
to address the imminent catastrophe of climate change. Let's together
lead a new Union of enlightened countries possessing passionate
survival instincts and use our scientific resources to redirect our huge
energy interests toward limiting carbon dependence and assure our
planet of clean air and water.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

This blog appeared in DelawareLiberal on 4/12/2014 by ProgressivePopulist

Residing in my "twilight years", I've been reflecting on the many
unresolved issues facing my country and revisiting the ebb and flow of
progress/regression in the search for solutions I've witnessed and
worked for as an activist over about 45 years of my more than seven
decades of life.
This is the bucket list I've pondered. Yes some
progress here and there, some local, some at the state level and a
smattering of successes federally. My observation is that the neglect
of many and failure of other reform efforts to a great extent is
attributed to an unengaged citizenry as well as their elected
representatives at all levels of government. Maybe we're mostly just
too damned busy trying to endure our lives, but we talk a good game
about making life better for future generations.
Certainly, those
generations have more gadgets to improve daily life; gadgets and stuff
seem to be what American's do very well, perhaps better than most on the
planet. But, improving the social order, in my opinion, certainly
better than much of the third world, but compared to other "advanced"
nations, not so much.
So, here's my bucket list, listed vertically
to allow readers to ponder the size of the list and reflect on each
issue. My goal, maybe unmet, is not to depress you. Rather, to cause
some reflection. In no particular order:
Climate change- largely ignored
Environmental degradation- still tolerated
Immigration reform- again and again
Tax reform-more complex and unfair
Guns-a national obsession
Wars-most ill or dishonestly conceived
Mental health-more art than science
Gerrymandering-misused by the powerful
Campaign finance-way worse, not better
Joblessness-mostly blaming the victim
Healthcare for all-a distance dream still
Trade deficits-not favoring our citizens
Women's rights-moving in the wrong direction
Civil rights-racism very alive and kicking
National debt-a blight on the future
Public education-the under served still awaiting results
Student debt-nibbled on but unresolved
Voting rights-regression, not improvement
Corporate lobby-citizens massively losing influence
Financial crime-goes unpunished vs. citizen petty crime
Corporate boards-still in control of the plutocrats
Right to organize-labor rights nearly non-existent
Mass incarceration-worst in the world and privatized
Drug war-lost but still hugely harming the citizenry
Sexual exploitation-sex slavery and male intimidation winning
Surveillance state-all downhill since 9-11
Judicial reform-money wins, poverty loses
Voter participation-regressive policies impeding
Equal economic opportunity-promised but not delivered
Pretty
grim results. But an abundance of people of good will can still turn
us around together with peaceful uprising and persistence to inspire the
uninspired. My own belief, as a populist, is that we can make the
most progress short term with local, municipal and state progressive
leadership, ultimately shaming and outflanking the federal plutocrats.
Optimism can prevail and shake the moribund populace to engagement to
better their condition.

About Me

Moved to Wilmington, Delaware in mid-2013. Resided in Houston, Texas for 45 years. A widower, married Julie Jackson in 2007. Retired as a hospital marketing consultant in 2001.Have been a Democratic Party political activist for most of my adult life, organizing and mobilizing for the Party and its candidates. Consider myself a progressive populist. Early career included running communications for 35 campaigns. Have formed and led committees dealing with voter mobilization and precinct organizing, counter voter suppression and strategy.Co-founded the Progressive Populist Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party. Have served on the Texas Democratic Party Platform Committee numerous times. Also an active organizer for the anti-war movement since Vietnam and was active in the civil rights movement.